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Some of you are new to oil painting and as you enter our community I am sure you have a lot of questions. Needless to say, many of your questions have been asked many times here on WC and some interesting and educational discussions have already taken place.

This isn't necessarily a replacement of your question though, so if what you are wondering isn't answered here (or by doing a search) please do start a thread with your question and get that good one-on-one that WC is so well known for!

Also, don't forget you can do your own search to find previous discussions -
here is an article that can help you get the most out of searching here on Wetcanvas:

Clean Up!
Oil paints can be easily cleaned up with soap and water, though it seems that there are as many ways to clean up as there are oil painters!How Do You Clean Up? -a poll

Varnishing
Varnishing serves two main purposes. First, varnish serves as a layer of protection between your painting and the environment--it is meant to be a removable layer. It also serves to even out the sheen of your painting if you have the glossy/dull patches which are quite common to oil paints. If you choose to varnish, you should wait six to twelve months after the surface is touch-dry (you may use "retouch varnish" to even out the surface before then if you wish). Varnishing is optional and in the case of needing to show or sell the work before the six month mark, it is a common practice to let the customer know they may return the piece at a later date to be varnished if they wish (with the added bonus of being able to interact with the customer again!).Step-by-step instruction

Painting Supports (Surfaces)
*The most common surface for the beginning oil painter is stretched cotton canvas or canvas mounted on some type of board. (Often these cheaper boards are mounted on cardboard, this is fine for practice and learning but they do have a tendency to warp, especially at larger sizes, and these cardboard boards are often not seen as archival.)
*Commercially prepared canvas usually has 2-3 coats of acrylic primer (also known as acrylic "gesso" though real "gesso" that is traditionally used in oil painting is quite different). It is often fine to paint directly onto commercially prepared canvas, though the primer coating can be thin especially in cheaper brands and many people like to add a few more coats of acrylic gesso to ensure that the oil will not seep through the primer (thus rotting the canvas eventually) or merely to further obliterate the weave of the canvas, creating a slightly smoother texture to work on. I will reiterate, though, especially for beginner oil painters, there is usually no problem painting on the commercial canvases as-is.
*Another common surface for oil painters is board, hardboard or mdf being the most common (and least expensive, definitely cheaper than canvas). You can usually purchase hardboard at your local Home Depot or Lowe's-type place and it is usually quite inexpensive (cheaper than decent paper even). The shop will usually cut the board to your specifications and you can then prime it with several coats of acrylic gesso.

Visiting some of the other forums, such as the color theory forum, can be advantageous for the new painter too.

Make sure you visit some WIPs (Works-in-Progress) posted by some of our experienced painters here. You will learn so much from them!

Dianne

If anyone would like to add to the list of links, please post them onto this thread http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214553 which is an "open" version, retaining all the comments and discussion as originally posted - one of the Mods can subsequently add them to here

So what did I sign anyways?
Ever wondered just what your User Agreement says? Check it out here...Updated User Agreement

When do I need the BUTT ICON?
Wet Canvas requires the BUTT Icon for nudity/partial nudity posts... when in doubt... post it with a BUTT... ... For more info on the current erotic/nude art policy click on the link below...http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/anno...?s=&forumid=35

How do I add the BUTT ICON?

To add the simply pick the Butt Icon when posting your thread.

What do I do if I forget to add the BUTT ICON?
If you forget... simply click the "Alert Post" button (the red triangle) at the top right next to the post number and type a note that you need a and a moderator will attach one.

6 Techniques For Handling Criticism: Are you afraid to display your work because you can't handle criticism? This article walks you through six ways to avoid bad criticism and learn how to use it to your advantage!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/558/343/

The Image Uploader and Attachment Manager: Having trouble trying to figure out how to put images in your posts? Uploading files and attaching images will be a cinch after you check out this step-by-step article showing how to use the Image Uploader and Image/File Attachment Manager!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/44487/496/

Should I use the Image Uploader or the Attachment Manager?
Answer... the IMAGE UPLOADER... that way your work can be viewed within the thread when someone is replying. Since we are big on critiques here it makes it easier to give one.

Check out the new Image Uploader... Doesn't get any easier than this!

If you don't have a photo manipulation program here is a brilliant free program. http://www.irfanview.com/ You can resize your images to fit the 600x500 requirements.

Making Avatars for Use on WC!: The mystery of Avatars, also known as "tinyheads", is unveiled by Artie's guest writer (hlee) showing how easy it is make and upload your own with the freeware programs readily available on the web!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/5712/554/

Where Should I Post My Art? -- Guide to the Forums: Confused about where you should post questions or your art? Here's where you can learn about the various forums on offer, learn how to get a critique, cross-posting, and the three-strikes rule.http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/44487/506/

Using the Private Message System: Wondering how to make contact with other WetCanvas! members? Check out Artie's step-by-step instructions to the Private Message System, and soon you'll be in touch, too!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/44487/504/

Personalizing WetCanvas!: Want to create your own 'look' for your posts at WetCanvas? There are lots of options and, best of all, it’s easy! Join Artie for a tour of the MyWC! options!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/44487/505/

6 Steps to Registering Your Account!: Been lurking long enough? Want to join WetCanvas! and get in on all the neat benefits of membership? Well, it's easy and it's free, so just check out this 'how-to' article and you're on your way!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/44487/501/

How To Rate Threads: Artie is at it again with helpful hints for New Users in this Article on How To Rate Threads! Ever wonder how some threads get those little stars? Step-by-step, you'll find out how!http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/44487/500/

How to JOIN a Project, CHAT & UPLOAD Your Work!: Bobby Aquitania, resident chat nut and cartoonist, asks Leo, Remy, and Vinnie how to join a project, upload work and enter the WC! chat room where members discuss their work.http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/3278/415/

There is a great deal of information buried in threads within the forums - many topics are discussed repeatedly. There is a search facility available, but making best use of it requires knowing a few tricks.

Near the top of each page there is a search menu - if it is clicked on, it will give you a dropdown box, like this:

Now the biggest trick in doing any computerised search (here, Google, whatever) is to realise that you have to choose the right words with which to search, in order to get the best results - for example, you're a beginner and you want to know which paints to buy - "oil paints" would be a useless search term - first of all, "oil" with only 3 letters, is too short to be searched at all at WetCanvas - and secondly, "paints" is a term which is probably used in a substantial proportion of all the posts across the site! - and not just oils, but in watercolours, acrylic, and so on. So let's find a term which is more selective - such as "brands" or "manufacturers", and restrict the search only to the Oils Forum. It may be necessary to try the search with different terms, to see what turns up each time.

Another topic people frequently ask about is what are the differences between whites, and what are their best uses - again, searching for "white" will produce very large numbers of posts, in most of which people will only be listing their palette, in passing - but if we want to be more discriminant, to find technical comparisons between the different whites, then we can search specifically for posts using several terms for the different whites.

For example - searching for "titanium cremnitz zinc" in the "oil painting" forum gives you a two page list - if you fill in the Advanced Search form like this:

1. get a tripod, and put your camera on it - it needn't be expensive, but it's much better than hand-holding it - make sure that the camera is square-on to the painting, and the painting fills as much of the frame as possible - most digital cameras show some barrel distortion of images on the wideangle settings - it is a good idea physically back off somewhat, and zoom in to at least mid-range optical zoom so that a square looks square, not like it's had too much to eat! (but not to the extent that digital zoom kicks in - for most purposes digital zoom is worthless, as it's just resizing the image up from part of the imaging chip)

3. digital cameras will work in low light levels, but the results will be bad - illuminate the painting from the sides, or better yet, take it outside and use daylight - overcast days with diffuse light are best.

4. read your manual, and find out about white balance settings - don't just leave your camera on "auto" - you need to either use custom if your camera has it, and set it by filling the field of view with a white sheet under the same lighting - or choose the preset value which is closest to the colour temperature of your light source ("auto" is set to balance correctly for the distribution of colours of typical snapshot photography - the more your painting diverges from this, the worse a job it will make of it.)

5. Some cameras with auto-focus have difficulty on finding the focus for flat surfaces - if this is so, if the camera finds focus by half-depressing the button (as many do), find something else at the same distance as the painting, focus on that, and holding the button to keep that focus, swing the camera back to the painting and photograph it.

6. If your camera is bleaching out light colours to pure white, or giving you greys instead of blacks, read the manual about "exposure compensation" settings, and use them (If you want to photograph showing a surrounding area, a neutral mid-tone is technically better than black or white - as they will force auto-exposure settings up or down respectively)

7. Take several photos, varying the white balance and exposure compensation settings, if unsure - at least one is likely to be usable.

8.In general, take photos at higher resolutions and resize them down in the computer. Be prepared to find your way around your graphics software!!

9. If you get odd banding patterns across the painting in the photo (particularly when resized down) do a slight gaussian blur, just sufficient to blur the canvas grain in the larger photo, before resizing down. After resizing down to wetcanvas-compatible sizes, it's often helpful to do a slight sharpen.

10. If you are still unhappy with the photo, you either need a better camera (though any digital camera with more than 2megapixels is likely to be well-enough made to give acceptable photos for posting here, used carefully, with the advice above) - or a decent piece of graphics software in which you can adjust colours, (eg using levels, curves, and channels)

Make sure your original image is in jpg format, and not larger than 800 pixels in height, nor 600 in width. You can adjust this in any image editor, Photo Shop for example. And place the image in a folder on your local computer which you know how to find.

UPDATE! - Check out the New Image Uploader... Doesn't get any easier than this!

Bernie

..and for those occasions where you need to use the older uploader facility (still available) -

Matt posted instructions on using the uploader - I've added illustrations to those instructions so hopefully now it's even clearer

In the thread or post you're writing, click on the button "Quick links", found up to your right in the blue tool bar - A drop-down menu will appear, and at the bottom of that you'll find "Image uploader". Press it.

We welcome members being prepared to organize and run a project or challenge but we ask that you please contact the Forum Moderators first to check such things as copyright and willingness to comment and encourage participants.